The Rivers of Zadaa

  Whack! I got hit from behind. A quick spin showed me that Alder had joined the fun. No sooner did I look at him, than Loor sprang and cracked me across the head.

  “Never take your eye off your opponent,” she chastised.

  “But he was my opponent!” I protested.

  “We are both your opponents,” Alder said.

  The two circled me. “How can I keep my eye on both of you?” I asked.

  “Feel us,” Alder said.

  Great. More Jedi talk. But the truth was, I started to think there was something to it. Loor was on one side, Alder on the other. I looked straight ahead, barely seeing them in my peripheral vision. But I could sense them. I knew where they were.

  Alder attacked. I dropped down and rolled away, popping back up and expecting Loor to come from the other side. That’s exactly what happened. Loor came in with her stick held high, ready to chop down at me. I was ready. She wasn’t fast enough. When she struck, I threw up my weapon and blocked the shot. Yes! But my victory didn’t last. A second later Alder cracked me across the head, and I saw stars.

  “What was that?” I yelled, jumping up angrily. “I thought it was all about the third move?”

  “It was,” Loor said. “I made it.”

  “Exactly!” I countered. “Alder, then me, then you, and I blocked it!”

  “Of course you did,” Loor said. “Because I made you wait.”

  She was right. I sensed it at the time, but didn’t react. She had come in way too slowly. She was setting me up. She made the third move all right. The important move. The move that set Alder up for the kill. I suddenly felt drained and frustrated. There was too much to learn, and we were taking too long to do it. We needed to be out hunting for Saint Dane, not trying to teach the unteachable. I dropped my shoulders, threw my weapon down, and turned to walk away.

  “That’s it,” I said. “I’m done.”

  “Pendragon,” Loor called.

  I didn’t stop.

  “Pendragon!” she called again.

  For the first time since this ordeal began, she sounded angry. I heard it in her voice. I sensed her tension. I felt her coming after me. I kept walking.

  “I will not allow you to give up!” she shouted at me.

  She had nearly caught up to me. I could sense that she was reaching out to stop me. That’s when I made my move. I dropped down, swept my leg, and caught her on the backs of both knees. Loor went down hard. I sprang forward, put my knee to her chin, and leaned down to her.

  “Never make the first move,” I said.

  I reached back and grabbed the red spikes from both her elbows, pulling each one off deliberately, enjoying myself.

  Alder laughed. It was as big and boisterous a laugh as I had ever heard from him. He came over and picked me up off Loor like a doll, giving me a hug. Loor got up and stood where she had fallen. I’ve seen Loor in many fights. Not just in the last few weeks, but against real enemies, when it counted. I had never, ever seen anyone get the better of her. As far as I knew, I was the first. She didn’t say anything. She only stood there, staring at me.

  “Hey,” I said with a shrug. “You’re the one who said I had to be clever.”

  Loor stared me down for a long moment, and then she smiled. In that one instant I felt all the tension melt away. My guess was that she didn’t consider this a defeat, but a victory. She had actually managed to teach me something.

  “We are done, Pendragon,” she said. “There is nothing more we can teach you here.”

  “Sure there is,” I said. “But we can’t waste any more time.”

  “Do not underestimate what you have learned,” Loor said. “You have done far better than I expected.”

  “Seriously?” I asked.

  “You are ready, my friend,” Alder said.

  I glanced between the two of them and added, “You realize I hate you both.”

  Neither were sure of how to react to that. I smiled and added, “But I’ll get over it.”

  “Saangi!” Loor shouted out. Saangi instantly came running out from one of the buildings to join us. Loor said, “Saangi, please bring the remaining food and water to the sleep area. Pendragon must eat.”

  Saangi gave me one of her usual sour looks. I expected her to say something like: “Tell him to get it himself.” But instead she said, “It would be an honor.” She smiled at me and ran off.

  Whoa. I didn’t expect that.

  Alder said, “I will help Saangi.” He took off, but not before saying, “I am proud of you, Pendragon.”

  Loor and I were alone. It was kind of awkward. After having been “enemies” for these few weeks, it was hard to suddenly change my thinking.

  “I’m not convinced this did any good,” I said. “But thank you for trying.”

  “You always surprise me, Pendragon,” Loor said. “I know how difficult this was for you. You have the courage and the will, but fighting is not in your nature. You did well.”

  “Well, thanks, but, I’m no warrior.”

  “That is true,” Loor said. “If you meet Saint Dane again, he will not be using toy weapons.”

  Oh, well. So much for building my confidence. Loor turned it around by stepping up to me, holding my shoulders, and giving me a kiss on the cheek.

  “I am proud that you are my lead Traveler,” she said.

  For once, I didn’t know what to say. Really. I was a total mess.

  “There is only one task left,” she said.

  “What’s that?” I asked, fearing she had one last diabolical surprise in store.

  “We must celebrate,” was her answer.

  An hour later we were all in the barracks, enjoying a spread of food and water that was greater than anything I had seen in weeks. By Second Earth standards it wasn’t exactly Thanksgiving, but having the choice between several fruits and dried meats and loaves of bread was a luxury I wasn’t used to. I learned that Saangi had been making daily stealth trips back and forth between Mooraj and Xhaxhu to replenish our supplies. (I never did find out where she was hiding the stuff.) I figured I had to be careful about eating too much because my stomach had probably shrunk to the size of a walnut. I didn’t want to load up and then heave in front of everybody. That would have ruined the party for sure, and wasted a bunch of good food.

  It felt like a last meal and a celebration rolled into one. Training was over. We were on the same team again. I knew that we were all thinking about how we would now have to turn our sites toward our real enemy, but after working so hard for so long, we deserved a vacation, even if it was only for a couple of minutes.

  “To Pendragon!” Alder said while lifting a canteen to toast.

  “To Pendragon!” Loor and Saangi echoed.

  “I have one request,” Loor said.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “You must remain true to who you are,” she said. “You have new skills; it does not mean you must use them.”

  “Believe me,” I said, “if I never had to fight again, I’d be a happy guy. All you’ve done is give me a better shot at surviving. For that, I can’t thank you enough. All of you.”

  I raised my own canteen to them, and we drank a toast. After drinking, Loor pulled something out from beneath one of the bunks.

  “You now fight like a Ghee,” she said. “With your dark skin, you almost look like a Batu. Almost.”

  We all chuckled.

  She continued, “Therefore, you should dress like one.”

  Loor handed me the clothes I would be wearing from then on—the lightweight leather armor of a Ghee warrior.

  “Are you sure?” I asked with surprise.

  “You are not a Rokador,” she said. “There is no longer any sense in pretending to be one.”

  “Thank you, Loor,” I said. “I’m honored. I really am.”

  I took the clothing reverently. With a little help from Saangi, who had to explain exactly how to put it on, I donned the armor of a Ghee. I guess calling it armor is misleading. It w
as more like black clothing that had leather pads to protect vital areas like the chest, kidneys, and of course, the groin. Always gotta protect the groin. The sleeves and pants were short, but there were extra pads for the forearms that reminded me of the braces I used to wear when street skating. Same with my knees. It was all pretty comfortable, and I could move easily. I even liked the sandals. They had more protection than the open, Rokador variety. And I could keep on my boxers. That was key.

  When I was dressed, I stepped back and said, “How do I look?”

  Alder smiled and said, “Intimidating.”

  “Yeah, right,” I said sarcastically. But the truth was, wearing this armor made me feel a little more formidable. Who knows? Maybe I had actually come a little closer to my fantasy image of a fierce warrior. Or maybe I was kidding myself.

  “You look good,” Saangi said. “Nothing like a Ghee, but good.”

  She was humoring me. That was okay. All I cared about was not looking like a little kid wearing my daddy’s armor.

  “You will also need this,” Loor said.

  From under the bunk she pulled out the last piece in the puzzle. It was an official stave, the wooden weapon used by Ghee warriors. It was around six feet long and a few inches thick. It got thicker toward either end so it looked sort of like a long, double-ended club. It was pretty worn, too. This weapon had seen action. The wood was stained dark from sweat, and for all I knew, blood. No question, this weapon had a ton of history. As it turned out, I was absolutely correct.

  Loor held the stave out reverently and said, “This was the weapon of my mother, Osa.”

  My throat clutched. Osa. The Traveler from Zadaa before Loor. The last time I saw her, it was in a battle to defend me. She saved my life, and lost hers. I didn’t feel worthy to take her weapon.

  “I can’t,” I said.

  “You can,” Loor said firmly. “I believe this is the way it was meant to be.”

  I hesitated, but one look in Loor’s eyes told me she truly wanted me to have it. I tentatively reached out and took it. Of course, it was heavier than the bamboo poles I had been fighting with. More important, I felt Osa’s spirit in this weapon.

  I looked at Loor and said, “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Say you will honor the memory of my mother,” Loor said.

  “I’ll do my best.”

  Loor nodded. It was a bittersweet moment.

  I looked at Alder and said, “By coming here you may have saved my life. I’m really grateful.”

  “You say that as if I am about to leave,” he replied.

  “You’ve done your part,” I said. “You should return to Denduron.”

  Alder picked up the short, metal rod that was the Rokador weapon. With his size and white skin, he still looked very much like a Rokador. There was no sense in dressing him like a Ghee.

  “I am a Traveler,” Alder said. “That is reason enough. Loor helped us save Denduron; it is time to return the favor.”

  I looked to Loor. She nodded.

  I took Osa’s stave and flipped it over my back until it was firmly wedged into the leather harness that Saangi had fitted to me. I’d like to say that I felt all sorts of menacing with my armor and weapon, but after all the grueling training I had been through, the one thing nobody prepared me for was walking around with a big old stick strapped to my back. Talk about awkward! It took me a while to figure out how to position it so I could turn around without whacking somebody. The first time I moved, I nearly beaned Alder.

  He laughed and said, “We are on the same side again, remember?”

  “Sorry,” I said, embarrassed. Yeah, I was a badass warrior all right. I felt more like one of the Three Stooges. “Why didn’t you guys teach me how to deal with this?” I said, turning around comically, nearly hitting Loor and Saangi, deliberately. Both ducked out of the way and laughed.

  “This is a whole nother skill,” I said, laughing. I spun quickly. Alder had to duck or he would have gotten hit. He laughed. “Oops, sorry!” I said, joking. I turned to help him up, nearly hitting Loor and Saangi again. I spun back to them. “Oh, I’m sorry!” I was having fun, for the first time since I could remember. We all were. Even Saangi. To be honest, it wasn’t all that funny, but when you don’t have much else to laugh about, you take the yuks where you can get them. I spun around the room a few more times, pretending to apologize to one person for nearly hitting them while nearly whacking another one behind me until finally, I hit Alder. He lurched forward, overdoing it. We all laughed. He staggered a few steps, and we all kept laughing until I registered the look on Alder’s face. He wasn’t laughing. This was no joke.

  “Jeez, man, I’m sorry,” I said. “Did I really nail you?”

  Alder’s eyes were wide with shock. He fell to his knee, and turned until we all saw something that made the party stop as quickly as if somebody had flipped off a light switch.

  Sticking out of Alder’s shoulder was a steel arrow.

  The four of us froze. It made no sense. I hadn’t seen anything like this on Zadaa before. But Loor had.

  “Tiggens!” Loor shouted. “We are being attacked!”

  JOURNAL #21

  (CONTINUED)

  ZADAA

  Zing! Another arrow flew through the doorway, whizzed across the room, and imbedded itself into the far wall.

  “Down!” Loor shouted.

  We all hit the ground. Loor tackled Alder, making sure that he was out of harm’s way.

  “Is this it?” I asked in a strained whisper. “Has the war begun?”

  “No,” Saangi answered. “I was in Xhaxhu this morning. There was no plan to attack.”

  “Then maybe the Rokador are striking first,” I said.

  “That would be suicide,” Loor answered. “And even if they were, why would they attack us out here in the desert?”

  Good point. Whoever was attacking, this wasn’t about the conflict between the Batu and the Rokador. This was about us. Oh joy.

  “I am all right,” Alder said, though I could tell he was gritting his teeth in pain. I could see a blossom of red spreading out from the arrow, soaking his white Rokador tunic. “Leave me here,” he said. “Take the battle to them.”

  Loor didn’t have to be told twice. She rolled across the floor toward the back window and crouched up on her feet, ready to go. “Stay with him, Pendragon,” she said. A moment later she sprang up and launched herself out the window.

  I had to make a quick decision. Was I going to stay here with Alder and hope Loor could protect us? Or was now the time to step up to the plate and use my new skills? I looked at Alder. I think the look in my eyes told him what my decision was.

  “You are ready,” was all he said, as if to assure me. “Be careful.”

  “Stay with him, Saangi,” I ordered, and rolled for the back window as I had seen Loor do.

  “Loor told you to stay here!” Saangi protested.

  “And now I’m telling you to stay here,” I shot back. As I stood under that window, I realized that my earlier fight with Loor wasn’t my final exam after all. That was only a pop quiz. My true final exam was about to be given now, and this time it wasn’t against a friend. Was I ready? It didn’t matter. Failing this test would mean death.

  I leaped up and hoisted myself out the window. I’d forgotten that Osa’s stave was still in the sling on my back. As I went through the opening, I caught one end of the weapon on the window frame. It threw me off balance, and I ended up tumbling down and hitting the ground, back first. This time being clumsy with the weapon wasn’t so funny. I didn’t have time to feel dumb, though. I quickly jumped up and threw myself against the wall, bracing myself to get hit with one of those steel arrows. A quick look around told me I was alone. I quickly yanked the stave out of the sling and ran to the edge of the building to find Loor.

  I got to the corner and cautiously looked around to witness a curious scene. Loor was standing in the middle of the dusty training ground. Facing her were six Tiggen guard
s, with their goggles on and their heads wrapped. This didn’t look like a warm reunion, like when we met those guys on the farm. Everyone here looked tense, with their legs set wide and their weapons ready. Four of them held steel batons. The fifth had a weapon that looked like a medieval crossbow. Only this thing was loaded with a row of steel arrows. Two of them had already been fired. One was sticking out of Alder’s shoulder. Stranger still, he had the weapon trained on the back of the last Tiggen guard! It was the only guard I recognized, because he had removed his goggles. It was Bokka, Loor’s friend. He stood between Loor and the five others, with a loaded crossbow aimed at his back. I had no idea what was going on, though one thing I was pretty sure of. This was no social call. There was going to be more trouble.

  No sooner did I survey the scene, then all hell broke loose. It started with a dark streak flying toward the group. At first I thought it was a bird swooping in, but a quick look showed me that it was Saangi’s wooden stave. She had hurled it at the Tiggen guards like a spear. A second later I saw her sprinting toward the group. She hadn’t followed my instructions and stayed with Alder. No surprise. Saangi wasn’t big on following orders. Then again, I didn’t follow Loor’s orders either, so I shouldn’t criticize. The stave hit the Tiggen with the crossbow, knocking it out of his hands. Instantly Loor attacked. The battle was on. Without taking a second to try and figure out what was happening, I bolted for the group. I had no idea what I was going to do, but I was about to do it.

  A quick look told me that Loor was fighting two of the guards. Saangi went after a third. Bokka had turned and tackled the last one, wrestling him for control of his steel baton-weapon. I didn’t understand. What had happened that the Tiggens were now against Bokka? There wasn’t time to analyze. I went after the leader, who was scrambling to pick up his crossbow. He saw me at the last second, flying in with the stave held high. He didn’t have time to pick up the weapon and aim. Instead he grabbed it and threw it at me. I deflected it with no problem, but it gave him time to pull his own steel baton from his belt. I still hadn’t seen how the Tiggen guards used this short weapon. It looked pretty solid and would probably hurt if it made contact. I figured that with my longer stave I could keep him far enough away so I wouldn’t get hit. I’d only be in trouble if I let him inside. Or so I thought.